American households have embraced technology products and services in a big way for home entertainment, finances, shopping, and even working from home. This TUP Highlights report reports on important usage shifts and trends among American households: game consoles, smartwatches, printers, streaming music, video doorbells, VR headsets, and much more. Further, this report identifies the changes from 2019 to 2021 among socioeconomic groups that have been historically advantaged or disadvantaged. Included are the shifts in penetration rates for smartphones, PCs, home PCs, tablets, and home printers for the total market as well as within major market segments.
Highlights: Activities
What we do paints a richer picture than what we carry or own. All computers are not used the same and nor are smartphones or tablets. Each user has their preference about how they spend their time. Also, each user expresses their choices about which connected devices they turn to for each type of activity. While some see their tablets as passive movie screens, others rely on them as communication hubs. Some users prefer to shop on a computer, while others rely more on their smartphones.
This TUP Highlights report includes the following sections: main activities across all tech devices, major activities for each device type, activities unique to which device type, cross-device activities, the profile of activity type users, major activities for a market segment, home entertainment activities, the profile by key activities, and listening activities.
Highlights: Wearables, Hearables, Listening & Speaking
Entertainment, communication, and smart homes have all evolved beyond requiring typing on a keyboard or sitting near PC speakers. Wearable and hearables have extended a broad range of audible activities further towards a more personal convenience. However, active usage of any wearables or hearables has varied considerably across market segments. While Bluetooth headphones are widespread, VR headsets persist as niche products among a younger, more affluent, and tech-savvy segment. Smart speakers, in contrast, are showing signs of having peaked after rising in use among a middle market.
This TUP Highlights report includes the following sections: wearables penetration, hearables penetration, wearable devices used, trends in wearables and hearables, purchase plans for wearables, listening activities, penetration of voice assistant usage, the profile of voice assistant users, the profile of hearables users, and the profile of wearables users.
Highlights: Consumer Electronics
Hearables are having a tumultuous time during the pandemic, and users adapt to shifting situations. Webcams are a significant force, as are wireless Bluetooth headsets, both pivotal for users working or schooling from home. Meanwhile, voice-enabled speakers have reached a plateau, reaching their largest share among neither the youngest nor oldest adults. Smartwatches have made inroads across nearly all age groups, especially younger employed adults.
This TUP Highlights report includes the following sections: purchase plans for wearables, hearables penetration, wearables penetration, trends in consumer electronics, the profile of hearables users, the profile of wearables users, the profile of key consumer electronics users, and device activities compared to consumer electronics.
Top listening activities by device type
Around the world, tech users are listening—to their devices, at least. Smartphones dominate listening activities, but many other devices, like PCs and tablets, also play a role. This MetaFAQs profiles all online adults who actively use their connected devices for specific listening & hearing activities. The report details which activities are being done by platform, showing how computers are used differently from smartphones or tablets. Active listeners number 209 million in the US (95% of online American adults), 54.6 million in Germany (94%), 44.2 million in the UK (94%), and 78.1 million in Japan (87%). Report [TUP_doc_2022_0129_list] in TUP Lenses: Consumer Electronics; Activities; Wearables, Hearables, Listening, and Speaking; Home Entertainment.
What are the major listening activities across countries?
Who’s listening? And to what? Most online adults report having used any connected device for specific listening and hearing activities within the previous month (ranging from 87-95% of online adults, depending on country). Regularly making personal phone calls dominates as the most popular listening activity in every country surveyed, and video calls have reached the halfway mark.
This MetaFAQs reports on listening activities (including phone calls, videos/movies, video calls, music/radio/podcasts, television, video games, video meetings, voice assistants, and voice memos) by country: the US, UK, Germany, and Japan in 2021.
Paid streaming music listening among socioeconomic groups
Listening to paid streaming music grew markedly among Americans, rising from 29% of online Americans in 2019 prior to the pandemic and reaching 36% in 2021. This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of Americans regularly using their connected devices for paid streaming music by socioeconomic group. The groups being reported consider age group, employment status, household size, ethnicity, presence of children, educational attainment, and other socioeconomic factors.
Smart watch penetration among socioeconomic groups
Active use of a smartwatch grew strongly among Americans, rising from 20% of online Americans in 2018 prior to the pandemic and reaching 27% in 2021. Growth has not been uniform, however, as some groups have penetration of two-thirds where others are less than five percent. This MetaFAQs reports on the percentage of Americans regularly using a smartwatch by socioeconomic group. The groups being reported consider age group, employment status, household size, ethnicity, presence of children, educational attainment, and other socioeconomic factors.
Alone Americans – overlooked technology users? [TUPdate]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, June 21, 2019 Sometimes the slow-moving trends are the ones that get missed. Coupled with preconceived notions, these have the makings of blind spots. For many tech companies, single-person American households may be an overlooked market segment. Based on research by the U.S. Census and our TUP/Technology User Profile service,…
Digital publication readership – to be saved by Apple News+? [TUPdate]
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, April 5, 2019 Magazine and newspaper writers envision a world of digitally-connected readers hanging on their every word. Despite the ubiquity of connected devices, from smartphones and PCs to tablets, that’s not currently the case. Fewer than half of online adults regularly read a magazine, newspaper, or periodical using any…